Deep delve into ch 99
(Spoilers for my KNY Plot Rewrite Ch 99!)
Fuck, okay. So the latter half of 99 is obviously quite loaded with information. You get explicit confirmation that the Ubuyashikis wiped Yoriichi’s name from basically every history book, the prophecy that I put as a foreword all the way in the beginning, lore about Marks, etc. Quite a lot. Obviously that’s all exciting, but I would really like to examine the dynamic that Rewrite Tanjirou and Kagaya have with each other at this point in time.
There are plenty mentions of Kagaya reminding Tanjirou heavily of his father. The smell of medicine, the gauntness of his face, the lighthearted front he puts up, I simply can’t understate how much this affected Tanjirou’s actions in the scene. These are all aspects that bring him back to a time close to his father’s death, the feelings and the guilt and shame coming with. Readers may recall he actually wasn’t able to buy the medicine for Tanjurou at one point (revealed in Mugen Train), which caused the guy’s death, so this definitely didn’t help matters.
He has a super prominent guilt complex that’s been instilled within him since he was young. This only worsened after the deaths of his family in the beginning of the story, and reached a new low after the death of Kyojuro in Mugen Train. The idea that he was simply just a kid susceptible to the will of an indifferent world was something he knew but refused to accept, because it is easier to put the blame on something tangible, something he could hold, something he could hurt, than an abstract concept.
(And for the most part, that tangible object is himself.)
After the explanation about Yoriichi, it starts to make sense why Tanjirou made the connection between himself and Yoriichi. That Tanjirou’s the one in the prophecy. That Tanjirou’s destined to defeat Muzan. It’s not even that he figured it could be true, he wanted it to be true. It would prove that he could actually make a difference when the world has constantly told him he could do nothing. Accomplishing this would make up for everything he (unfairly) blamed himself for, every moment he found himself being weak or simply not enough, because he was destined to be stronger than the strongest being on Earth. And if he was strong, he wouldn’t suffer any more.
At least, that’s what he thinks. Kagaya understands more than anyone what it feels like to be powerless. And he isn’t stupid. Yoriichi became an unfortunate example of what happens to someone who was thrust into the role of a savior and failed. How do you think Kagaya would feel letting history repeat itself, but instead of a man, it was a child?
